


I Met You in Winter

by Iridium (IridiumFlames)



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Nagisa and Rei and assorted other characters are mentioned in passing but don't feature here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-04
Updated: 2014-08-04
Packaged: 2018-02-11 16:57:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2075865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IridiumFlames/pseuds/Iridium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin meets Makoto on his winter vacation, and also they’re leaders of sovereign states.<br/>Brief alcohol mentioning, if you're uncomfortable with that!</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Met You in Winter

**Author's Note:**

> I know very little about politics and apologize if anything’s horribly inaccurate- but I hope you enjoy it anyway! Also, in case it is unclear- Aichiirou is the ambassador to a province in Samezuka called Camara, which means “roommate” according to one of my team members.
> 
> Samezuka is supposed to be vaguely Indian-based as far as culture, while Camara is based on Russia, and Iwatobi is based on Greece, mostly because of the Orthodox churches' colors, and also because of their nearness to the ocean! If any of the cultural references are inaccurate please inform me.

As far as Rin’s concerned, being crown prince means being a celebrity with a silly amount of power. Kou, Samezuka’s princess and his sister, probably oversees the proud country more than he does; in Rin’s opinion, she’d make a much better heir than him. Seijuurou, her second-in-command, has to be one of the most enthusiastic Secretaries of State Samezuka’s ever elected, and with him running behind her, Kou’s doing pretty a damn good job as parliamentary advisor. Rin’s not about to mess up a good thing.

 He does have some responsibilities; he’s not entirely a figurehead. But Rin’s job is to sign off on things as the highest-ranking sovereign and show up to places looking pretty. He’s not running the country at all, that’s Seijuurou and Kou and parliament; but it is still _his_ , kind of, and he wants to see it doing well.

Samezuka’s wealth, thanks to the oil industry, is behind the sudden explosion of brand names and designers and cities, and the annexation of Camara, a smaller, mountainous country. Rin has particular fondness for that new little province, and its ambassador, Nitori Aiichirou, who is remarkably cheery for somebody who grew up with snow and ice 9 months of the year. Right now, the relations with Camara have never been better, and he and Kou decide to take their winter vacation at a ski resort high in its mountains. Kou deserves it, she’s been working hard, and well– Rin wants to go on vacation too. 

It’s an upscale resort, usually reserved for the highest class of businesspeople or members of the government. Either way, the simple fact that he’s at this particular resort means the tall, smiling man Rin crashes into has to be either rich or a politician, and really not somebody he should’ve spilled sbiten’ on.

“Aw, shit, here-“ he fusses with some napkins for a minute before giving up entirely and trashing his drink. The other guy doesn’t seem upset, though.

“No, no, it’s fine! I was coming back to the lodge to change anyway. How about I buy you another drink?”

“I spilled my drink on you, and you’re offering to buy me one.”

“Yes?” Okay, so he’s probably not a politician.

“What’s your name again?" 

He introduces himself as Makoto, the Secretary of State of Iwatobi, and Rin can- well, remember is too simple of a word for what he knows about Iwatobi.

Iwatobi’s duke was one of the last royalty in their country, aside from a few countesses and barons, and lived on an island in Iwatobi Bay. During an economic crisis a few years back, Rin had been forced to work with him, even going as far as to travel to the island for a few months. It had taken him almost half the year to learn Haru’s oddities; once he accommodated them, though, Haru was a whole new person. Rin hadn’t known you could solve economic crises while talking on the beach with a team of very confused economists and a duke.

 He’ll never forget that meeting with Iwatobi’s last sovereign. While the economic issues had turned out okay, he mostly remembers how little Haru had talked, but how much he said with those words– because here at last was a politician whose words were never empty.

“Iwatobi. Huh.” Rin knows Iwatobi. “Thanks for that help a couple years ago. You were probably involved, and I know we sent that formal expression of gratitude and everything, but I mean it, alright?” 

“It’s no big deal, really! We do what we can. After all, we know Samezuka’s always willing to help if we need it.” He gives Rin a smile, and that would’ve sounded double-sided from anyone else, but this Makoto guy’s already unusually sincere for a politician. Are people in Iwatobi this real all the time? Either way, he wants to talk to this guy a little more.

“We appreciate it. And speaking of paying people back, I’m not actually going to make you pay for a drink that I spilled on you. C’mon, I’ll buy you something to make up for it.” He drags Makoto by one arm to the small café outside the lodge, and fully plans to impress this secretary of state– both because it looks good for Samezuka, and because having people adore him is one of his Favorite Things.

They sit around on the icy porch drinking hot chocolate and sbiten’ –it’s a traditional drink in Camara– and talk about nothing in particular. Iwatobi’s navy is as unbeatable as usual, and Rin even gets to tell his single cool story.

“Wasn’t there an IED scare a few months ago ago? I heard you were involved in it,” Makoto says seriously, looking at Rin over his cup. “Don’t tell me classified information or anything, but I heard it was pretty serious.” 

“What, that? Pssh. I’m gonna tell you a secret, okay? And before you ask, no, it’s not classified.” Rin grins, leaning in close.

“It was faaake. I’m crown prince, you really think they’re going to let me near something like that? It was an army training exercise, I knew about it before it got within two miles of me.”

“Oh. Well, then, I’m glad you’re alright.” He seems genuinely concerned that Rin’s alright. What a dork. 

“There wasn’t any attack?”

“I’m still glad! Both for you and Iwatobi. I’m secretary of state, after all, I need to know about bomb threats on your government if they happen!”

“Isn’t that the military’s job?" 

“I oversee them. I still need to know.” He tilts his head to one side amicably, taking a sip of his drink, and somehow Rin had forgotten that this friendly guy sharing a drink with him basically controlled Iwatobi. Rin is a little put out over this– he’s crown prince, and that’s very impressive, but here he is drinking sbiten’ with the actual ruler of Iwatobi. It’s not often he feels less powerful than someone.

“Oh yeah, how’d I forget, you practically rule Iwatobi.”

“I don’t! There’s parliament and the judges, and they have significant– ”

“Pff, you know what I mean. I thought the highest-ranked sovereign would be in charge instead of you, is all. Doesn’t really make sense when you consider Samezuka’s setup, but whatever. You’re just too- I don’t know, too nice and friendly. Not to mention really damn young for a secretary of state.”

“Oh! Well- well, thank you.” Makoto’s face tints an adorable shade of red, and Rin can pinpoint this as the moment he decides Makoto’s Cute. Secretary of State or not, he is going to get to know him, and pulls out his phone to give him his email address. Not the “if you have any questions, send us a letter!” email that Kou set up for him and Seijuurou mostly answers. Nope, this is his private one, from back when he was a teenager, and he can count on one hand the number of people he’s given it to in the past five years.

“sharkshark55?”

“Shut up, I was seventeen, okay?” That’s at least half the reason he can count those people on one hand. 

Makoto laughs at him, but writes it down anyway. “I’ll email you, okay?” he says, typing it down on his phone before looking up inquisitively. “Or- well, I’m on my phone already, why don’t you just give me your number?”

“Oh yeah. Okay, here, gimme,” and Rin grabs for Makoto’s phone, typing in his name and number. In a few minutes, they’ve both traded off information, and Makoto is safely entered as “Secretary Nice Guy” in Rin’s phone.

Not that they use them anytime soon. They’re both at the ski resort, for at least the next week, and neither of them need phones when they’re running into each other so regularly.

~~~~~~

He meets Makoto’s sister halfway through the week via body tackle, and promptly trips over her boots.

“Prince Matsuoka! Can I have your autograph, oh my god take a picture with me– ” a flash goes off in his face, and before he can really react to any of this, a pen and some hotel stationery are being shuffled into his hand, and Ran, he’s pretty sure this one is Ran, is tweeting her picture with Crown Prince Matsuoka while he’s still sitting on the floor confused.

Ren introduces himself with a handshake and a very excited “Nice to meet you sir– uh, should I say your Majesty?”

“Sure, why not. Nice to meet you too.” Citizens of his own country just call him Mr. Matsuoka. “Your Majesty” is too formal, makes him sound like someone people look up to; but Ran is Makoto’s family, and going by what the past week has taught him about Makoto, he’s probably alright. And so Rin manages to con this poor secretary’s brother into calling him Your Majesty.

It turns out that they had been summoned to go find Rin, so they could invite him to lunch with Makoto– and Haru, of all people. Rin is confused as to how exactly Makoto got Haru off his island for longer than a day, much less pulled him up into the mountains of Camara for two weeks. But he goes along with it, and it’s definitely nice to see the dark-haired duke again, even if he tries not to show it.

“I didn’t know you could leave your island without dying.”

“I didn’t leave it to be pestered by you, that’s for sure.”

“Whatever. It’s nice to see you again, weirdo.” Rin pauses, and then has an idea. “Hey, you’re big on cooking down in Iwatobi, right?”

“Why?”

“No reason, it’s just that we’ve been trying to preserve Camara’s culture. So this is basically your only chance to try authentic pirogi. I can set you up with the chefs if you want.” Haru’s eyes glint with interest and yeah, he’s caught him.

Rin tells the staff to send some fruit-filled pirogi to the table after dinner, and sits back to watch their reactions. Mostly Makoto’s reaction, because it’s cuter than Haru’s. No offense to Haru, but it’s the truth.

They pass the rest of the week well. Eventually, though, Rin goes back into Samezuka proper where it’s still what passes for winter, and Makoto and Haru go back south to Iwatobi, where their weather’s always perfect. Stupid Mediterranean countries and their gorgeous climates.

~~~~~~ 

Half a year goes by and things are normal. Ai’s province is actually starting to show some return on all those solar panels they’d wanted funding for, and Samezuka in general is turning out pretty respectable annual profits. Not bad. 

But Makoto won’t stop texting him.

They keep talking, either on the phone, or more often in texts. Rin ends up learning that Makoto’s so darn self-sacrificing that he barely indulges in anything, except occasionally sleeping in late, which is nowhere near the amount of luxury he deserves, so he sends him a watch specifically made from Samezuka gold. Privately, not a “public gift of goodwill,” this is just Rin to Makoto, and he’s unusually chuffed to see Makoto wearing it during his next public appearance. Not that he stayed up till 1:00 AM to watch the entire public appearance on a time delay.

There are interminable messaging and phone calls all through the spring, and while Samezuka’s tabloids are going crazy to figure out who the crown prince is texting, Rin manages to brush them off. It’d be bad for PR, for one. But more importantly, Rin doesn’t think he wants to share these small conversations with anyone else.

~~~~~~

Makoto learns a bit about Rin, too– he doesn’t like sweet foods. In response he sends all of Samezuka’s royal summer house chocolates, flavored so dark that Makoto would’ve hated them. Makoto even tells him this– but Rin loves them. Once he fights through all the packaging on his box, there’s even a little note attached, asking, “are these not-sweet enough for you?” and for a small minute Rin goes as melty as his chocolates.

Haru sends him a sarcastic truckload of mackerel in celebration of Iwatobi’s start of summer, and he groans about it, but he and Kou struggle through the fish anyway because you can’t refuse a political gift. Rin sends Haru back a very official email regarding it.

> Re: shitload of mackerel
> 
> Fuck you Haru nobody likes mackerel this much  
>  Makoto’s gift was nicer and it wasn’t even for anything  
>  Your fishing industry is out of control

Haru tells him he’s biased; but he and Kou get through the summer fine anyway, even if it includes more mackerel than either they or their chefs had planned. He tells Makoto about that, too, since it’s only another odd thing in all the miscellanea about his life, the unofficial news about their country. Zerach, one of their smaller cities, is recovering well from a flood; one of their knights had a baby; a cat wandered into their summer house that Kou gave to one of the maids. At that one, there are immediately an overflowing dozen of cat videos in his inbox, and he picks up the vaguest hint that Makoto likes cats.

Rin does watch the live coverage of Iwatobi’s summer festival, because Makoto said it would be amazing; but he stays up talking to him, sprawled out on his bed in front of the TV, for long after the opening ceremonies are over. Samezuka’s fall festival puts it to shame, really, and Rin tells him over the phone.

“You should see the mountains of Camara during festival season, it’s beautiful.” All ice-cold darkness and fire, and he wants to show that to Makoto, see the expression on his face.

“You really like Camara, don’t you?” Rin can hear his smile over the phone.

“Well, yeah. It’s just so– peaceful, you know? Samezuka’s– not hot, exactly, but it’s pretty summery most of the year, we’re practically on the equator. Camara’s too high in the mountains to get hot.”

“I think it’s lovely, even if I’ve only been there once. I know I liked that resort Haru and I went to.” There’s a small pause, and then–

“After all, I got to meet you there.”

Rin turns a funny color. He can feel himself turning a funny color. At least Makoto can’t see him.

“Yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean, uh–” –all his brain can come up with right now is a memorized answer–  “I’m grateful for your concern.”

Shit, no, that’s what he says to the cameras… ”I mean, thank you. Thanks. I liked it too.”

Rin is punching himself for dropping back into his public facade, even for a moment, but Makoto doesn’t seem to mind. He might be too hopeful, but he thinks Makoto sounds a little flustered himself.

“I- you did? I liked it, I mean, I said that already, haha, but I did. Honestly. I liked meeting you.”

“Yeah! Yeah, me too.” Rin sounds much more earnest than he’s heard himself in a while.

“Ohhh, okay- I hate to cut this off, but I’ve been putting off answering the door. I'm at the office, and somebody’s been knocking for about ten minutes and I really need to– ”

“Well shit, why are you talking to me? Go answer the door. I’ll talk to you later, yeah?”

“I’ll send you a text, okay I’ve really got to go- you have a good night, ok?”

“Alright. ‘Night, Makoto.”

“’Goodnight!”

He realizes after he hangs up that he just stayed up for hours talking to a guy, and Rin’s in high school all over again, figuring out that he liked boys.

He doesn’t mind at all, if he’s honest with himself. Makoto’s got more important things to drag him away, but he stayed on the phone instead, to talk to Rin, and he’s never seen Makoto put what he wanted before his responsibility. 

He decides he wants to see Makoto be a little more selfish, a little more often. 

~~~~~~

Makoto visits Samezuka again, for a weeklong stay during the fall, to discuss energy policies on national TV with Aichiirou. Half the reason he comes, though, is because Rin had mentioned Samezuka’s fall festival.

“I want to see if you were telling the truth about it really being better than Iwatobi’s.” Makoto may sound friendly enough, but Rin’s been talking to him long enough to know that tone. It’s a challenge and he doesn’t intend to disappoint.

“Why would I lie? This is my homeland you’re talking about, okay?” 

“Hazuki is a pretty good cultural affairs coordinator, though. It’s hard enough to keep up with him in conversation. Are you sure it’s going to be all that amazing?” Now Makoto’s just teasing him. Rude.

“We’ve been celebrating this for at least a couple centuries. I think we know what we’re doing.”

The media goes crazy over the debate, the way they do over anything international. Makoto signs all of the autograph papers shoved at him (why does a foreign Secretary of State have a _fan club_ ) and somehow answers all the questions asked of him, which Rin is just impressed with, because even Kou doesn’t look that smooth up against so much political yelling.

The debate goes off without a hitch. It’s not really even a debate, as much as both countries’ scientists enthusiastically talking and trying to educate everyone in the audience. After it ends he catches sight Kou in one corner of the stage, talking animatedly to their intelligence secretary. As for Rin, he goes looking for Makoto, who he finds scrunched against the side of the stage fielding questions from several of the scientists. Not wanting to interrupt, he sidles next to him and makes himself obvious for a few minutes, until Makoto disentangles himself from the questioners enough to come talk.

“Hey. I have to admit, it’s neat to see you someplace where you actually act like a politician. Thanks for the visit.”

“What, do I not seem like one the rest of the time?” Makoto shifts a little further from the crowd of scientists, giving them some privacy. “Haru’s always saying that too.”

“You’re– ugh. You’re secretary of state. You’ve clearly been reelected at least once and you’re not incompetent, so how are you so nice?” If Makoto hadn’t just shown up on national TV, he wouldn’t believe him even now.

“I- I don’t know? I mean, being sincere gets you further in life, since nobody has to worry about what you’re really going to think,” He smiles pleasantly at Rin, his eyes flickering for an instant with something cold and shrewd. “And it makes it easier to get people to trust you.” Rin is suddenly reminded that Makoto may be nice, but he’s certainly not helpless.

There’s no need for him to lie to Rin– they’re political allies. But he gets the feeling Makoto’s really being honest when he talks to him, which is something he’s missed. Apart from Kou, his parents, and a select few other people, he hasn’t met many people that he didn’t have to impress. It’s not a bad feeling.

~~~~~~

The fall festival has undoubtedly been a big deal this year. Camara’s annexation was peaceful, but it didn’t mean everyone agreed with it. So the host city for the opening ceremony was right on the border of Camara, to help settle tensions, and at Seijuurou’s suggestion, they decided to invite a few foreign heads of state from allied nations. In the eyes of the rest of the world, an international party looked a lot better than one country trying to tie itself together with festivals. Even Haru would be crawling off his island to come, to the delight of the media. There’s been talk that he designed his own outfit, and Rin isn’t going to let Haru beat him at looking good of all things. This is his home country, his home city, and he’s next up for the crown. Rin has no plans of being overlooked.

He steps off his and Kou’s private plane to the party looking just this side of opulence, practically dripping gold and a suit so custom the rich red fabric was literally dyed to compliment him. And the paparazzi are always annoying, but this festival is being televised in almost every major country. With a party like this, Rin might dare to admit that he likes the attention.

The historic palace that is the center of the celebrations is in his home city, Karchah, with ancient buildings that used to be the homes of actual royalty piled on all sides by gleaming skyscrapers and townhouses. It’s lit up along with the rest of the country, every building sparkling orange and magenta with celebration. Somehow Rin gets away from Kou in the massive ballroom, and he drinks so rarely, but he only had some wine, really, he’ll be fine.

 ~~~~~~

Sometime well past the start of the festivities, Haru’s secretary of state finds the crown prince of Samezuka chatting to a vase in a corner very cheerily. When he realizes who’s grabbing his shoulder, though, Rin lights up, smiling at him easily. 

“Makoto! Makoto. I am not as drunk as I am. Drunk. I’m not, really, I just don’t drink a lot and so it gets to me more because- because-“ Rin is distracted by Makoto’s eyes and promptly forgets what he’s saying. Makoto seems pretty concerned, though, about something. He should ask what’s wrong.

“Wha’s wrong?”

“How much have you had to drink?” Now he’s frowning, which is a shame. He looks much nicer when he’s not frowny like that.

“Not that much, really.” Makoto doesn’t look convinced. “Really really.”

“I’m pretty sure you’ve had enough, either way. Come on, let’s go sit down,” and Rin feels himself gently being steered into a quieter hallway outside of the main ballroom, and onto a small sofa. He flops down onto it gratefully, kicking his legs over one armrest, and feels the cushions shift as Makoto sits down next to him.

“You should drink some water. This doesn’t look good to the public, really, you should know this.” Makoto settles back onto the chaise, stretching an arm over the top of it.

“I know, but I am not drunk, okay,” he protests, raising one hand lazily in argument. “I am– not drunk. You have nice eyes, you know that?” Rin has the feeling he shouldn’t have said that out loud, but he was thinking it, and it’s not like he was lying.

“Oh, good.” Makoto’s not frowning anymore, at least.

 “Hm?” Rin wiggles around on the sofa until he can look up at him properly.

“No, I was worried it was just me that– oh, I’ll tell you later. Thank you, I think. You have pretty eyes as well.” That gets Rin laughing, for some reason. Things seem particularly funny tonight.

“Haha, thanks. I like you, you know? Good secretary.” He stares at the ceiling for a minute. “I don’t entirely get why you like me, but wha’ever. You’re nice to talk to and shit, it’s just, nice.” 

“You’re drunk, shh, shhh,” Makoto whispers, trying to cover his mouth. “I don’t ever have to do this for anyone, oh gosh.” But he’s smiling despite himself, that lovely blush Rin had seen months ago spreading across his face and ears. He pats Rin’s head absentmindedly and Rin yawns, leaning into it a little. Should he do that? He probably shouldn’t– what does Kou always say when he gets too emotional? Something about professional distance. 

“You seriously want to know why I like you?” Makoto looks down at him, his hand now ruffling through Rin’s hair. It feels pretty fucking nice, professional distance be damned.

“Sure, go for it.” 

One finger twirls around a strand of hair. “I– you know I’m always looking out for other people, right? It’s my job, and I like it. But I don’t have to do that with you– at least not usually, and I like _that_ , too. You can take care of yourself, you’re a competent leader and a good person and… I don’t know. I can actually relax around you, like I’m just a person, not a big important secretary.”

That hits Rin a little hard. He can feel himself starting to tear up, shit, he’s not even sad. It’s not such a big fucking deal that the de facto leader of a country just called pretty figurehead Rin a competent leader.

Makoto ruffles his hair one last time before moving away, leaning back more comfortably into the couch. “Go to sleep, okay? I brought you out here so nobody important would photograph you but the sooner you don’t look drunk, the better. At least if you’re asleep they’ll think you’re just tired.” Luckily, Makoto hadn’t seen his eyes too clearly, considering that Rin was slowly curling up on the sofa, which had suddenly become very comfortable.

“Well, you’re not wrong about the sleep,” Rin mumbles, cuddling onto Makoto’s leg. It’s warm, and he’s tired, and he falls asleep almost immediately.

~~~~~~

He wakes up to Kou shaking his arm, her makeup a bit smudged around the edges after a long night of playing hostess. He’s still on the chair thing but the party seems to have quieted down a bit, and it’s not fair that he’s awake, because now he’s not asleep. This sucks.

“Rin, wake up, come on,” she hisses into his ear, pulling him off the couch by one arm. “You can’t fall asleep in the hallway at a televised festival, it looks really bad and you know that!”

She drags him off to somewhere outside and this is definitely not fair of her, all this making him walk when he was asleep so nicely on the whatever-it-was. Rin tries to communicate this via whining directly into her ear, and he thinks he might be getting through to her until she grumbles that they’re going to a hotel down the road.

At this, he follows behind, leaning on her shoulder gratefully. For some reason the ground’s dodging him, but Kou seems to know where she’s going. She said there would be a hotel, which means a bed, which sounds fucking amazing, because his head’s starting to hurt from what has to be a really pathetic amount of alcohol.

“Kou, are we almost there? My head feels. It feels the shit. You know? You know? Kouuu?”

“I don’t, and if you weren’t drunk I would hit you right on your stupid head!” She hits him right on his stupid head anyway. So much for being sympathetic. 

“This is going to look horrible for PR. Although you didn’t really do anything, I guess. You basically just fell asleep, and it’ll probably help our alliance with Iwatobi that their Secretary- are you listening?”

“Kinda. No.”

“Oh fine. Well, we’re almost there and then you can fall back asleep and not give me more damage control to do.”

Once they’re at the hotel, Rin vaguely hears Kou saying something about a bottle of water and drinking it, and falling onto something soft. Honestly, how exactly he ends up asleep is a bit of a blur.

~~~~~~~

He wakes up too early, scratching fuzzily at his neck and looking around their room blearily. He’s not hungover by any means, just a bad, lingering headache; but he closes the curtains and tries to be quiet anyway, because Kou is sleeping and she looks damn exhausted. She has apparently not moved since she fell onto her bed last night, still wearing her party dress and everything. He takes off her shoes for her.

Rin sits on his bed in contemplation. He’s awake at- he checks the clock on the nightstand- 7:27 AM, and after some deliberation decides that both of them could use breakfast. He leaves a note for Kou (it’s rude as fuck to just leave someone asleep and disappear, who does that to their baby sister) and after trying to straighten out his now significantly wrinkled suit, crawls out of their hotel and onto the streets of Karchah. 

The sun’s not entirely risen yet, thanks to the coming winter, and the streets are blue with early morning. Rin wanders through the city for a while, enjoying the quiet. Eventually, he does find breakfast, in the form of some spicy chicken flatbread things from a convenience store. The cashier seems slightly stunned and asks for a picture, which he agrees to– he grew up with people asking for pictures of him. And it’s not exactly normal for the crown prince to turn up in a rumpled suit asking for chicken and flatbread. 

Back at the hotel, he drops a flatbread on the nightstand next to Kou, who is still sleeping, and checks his phone- and holy shit, why are there 4 calls to Makoto?

There are 40 messages to Makoto as well.

Rin does not remember this, and it gets even worse when he starts scrolling through them.

Every single one of those messages is a drunken variation on “I like you,” either misspelled or sent too early or just a long string of heart emoji, and he cringes away from his phone as much as he can’t stop looking at it. 

They’re going to have a conversation about this, that’s certain, but Rin doesn’t actually know what happened. And calling at a still-obnoxious hour with no reason why would probably be a bad start to whatever they have to talk about. He reluctantly finishes his breakfast, which is suddenly a lot less appetizing, and almost goes for a run, before remembering all he’s got to wear is his suit. Since he can’t really go anywhere looking like shit anyway, Rin grumbles to himself and watches a movie on TV with the volume almost muted until Kou wakes up.

Once she finally does, she immediately grabs for her purse, flicking her phone open without looking. Rin vaguely overhears Seijuurou say something about a sum of money in the millions. Kou gives mumbled agreement, and then clicks it shut determinedly, turning back to Rin with a significantly more awake expression.

“–and you. Go call Mr. Tachibana. You saw…whatever happened on your phone, right?”

“Of course I did. And–“ he sucks in a breath– “–what’d I do last night? Just tell me fast, this is gonna be fucking embarrassing either way.”

Kou sits up properly on her bed. “You wouldn’t stop calling him. I don’t know why, okay?” she says, glancing away in a manner that suggests she knows exactly why. “But it was annoying and he wasn’t answering anyway, so I just let you text him until you fell asleep.”

Well, now he feels like shit supreme. But he can’t ask Kou for help, because he wouldn’t be Rin if he were actually sensible about asking for help. He can figure this out on his own, anyway.

He sits on his bed for a minute before retreating into the bathroom to call Makoto. The sun’s been up for at least an hour, this can’t be obnoxious by now, right?

His phone answers on the second ring.

“Hey, Makoto.”

“Oh, hi Rin. How are you?” He sounds normal, Rin notes, with a twisting feeling in his stomach. Maybe he’d been so annoying that Makoto had decided to forget last night had happened. 

“Good, thanks,” that’s a blatant lie, “but I was wondering if we could meet up somewhere. There’s this little café place on 4th and Meiko, if you wanna…I don’t know. Talk and stuff.” And stuff? This call was supposed to help, not make things worse.

“Oh! Sure, okay…” there’s a rustling noise from the other end of the line. “4th and Meiko, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. I’ll be there in a minute, let me just tell my guards…”

“It’s fine. I’ll see you there, alright?"

“Alright. Bye then.”

Rin tells Kou where he’s going, and she sends Seijuurou a message alerting _their_ guards of his location, because of course nothing can just happen, it has to be a literal federal issue. He walks out of the hotel again, significantly less relaxed than he was earlier, and finds 4th Street easily. At least he has the advantage of having grown up on these streets, if he’s going to be uncertain in everything else.

A few minutes later, he gets to the café, and instantly finds Makoto; he’s the only other person there, apart from the employees clanking around in the back. Well, nobody will overhear them; but it also makes this whole thing a little more awkward.

“So.”

“So.” Does Makoto’s smile look a little strained?

Rin walks over to his table, throwing himself down in the chair across from Makoto and not exactly meeting his eyes. “I was kind of a humiliating shit last night. So. Sorry about that.” Apologies are the worst, that’s indisputable, and Rin hates them. But Makoto deserves that much.

“What?” Makoto’s frowning slightly, and leans his elbows on the table as he moves closer.

“What.” Now Rin’s frowning too.

“You didn’t do anything. I mean, you got a little woozy, but that’s not- okay, it was a little awkward but it was a party. I don’t hold it against you.” Makoto scratches at one ear, laughing uneasily. “It happens to everyone, right?" 

“You didn’t get the messages?”

“I- no? I usually sleep through them unless I’ve just gone to bed. Let me just refresh this…” And to his horror, Makoto pulls out his phone and starts fiddling through his messages, completely unaware of what Rin’s been agonizing over all morning.

“No, no, shit, don’t do– ” Rin snatches at the phone desperately, grabbing it out of Makoto’s surprised hands just in time for it to blow up with his own half-incoherent messages. They chime at him incessantly as they load on Makoto’s phone, one after another and very impossible to ignore.

“ …that. You know what, just read them, you’re going to eventually and I don’t give a shit.” Rin tosses the phone back and slumps into his chair, resigned to his fate.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Makoto scrolling through his phone, and slowly setting it down. It locks automatically with a soft click. Rin chances a look at him; he’s frowning slightly at thin air, and those beautiful eyes are more unreadable than he’s ever seen them.

“Makoto?” To Rin’s surprise, Makoto looks almost hopeful.

“Hey, don’t tell the press, okay, but– shh, sshh, come in closer, ” and Makoto leans even further across the table, gesturing to Rin to move closer as well.

“I don’t tell the press anything about– us, I told you that months ago,” he grumbles, but he complies, letting Makoto move until his chin is almost leaning on Rin’s shoulder. 

“Rin, I really like you too. I thought you knew by now.”

Rin draws back, his eyes wide. He had gotten a hint of it, he’d thought the chocolates from months ago were a little more than just a gift, but he didn’t think he was… sincere?

But when had Makoto ever been anything but sincere, in the almost-year since he’d met him?

He freezes in place for a minute– he is not tearing up again, dammit– before pushing at Makoto’s shoulders. “What? No, no, you shit, why didn’t you tell me before? I could’ve skipped all the embarrassing– ” he pauses, because Makoto’s just looking at him with this fond little smile, like he’s not a humiliation. “Do you even care about the messages?”

“Not really. I mean, I do care– I care about you, okay,” he flusters, looking around the café anxiously despite still being the only other person there, “but I thought it was sweet. You’re not embarrassing at all.”

“Oh. Okay. Well– well.” Rin takes a breath and straightens his shoulders. He seems to have run out of words, even his memorized ones. “What now?" 

“I don’t know. We’ll have to figure out a way to keep this– dating? Can I call it that?” He looks at Rin for agreement, smiling uncertainly.

“Sure, um– yeah! Yeah,” Rin sighs, breaking into a relieved grin. “Keep it what? From fucking up our reputations?”

“Well, yes.”

“Eh, I’m used to that. What do you think I grew up learning how to do? We’ll figure it out.” We’ll figure it out; that’s new. Rin likes that, a little, a lot.

“Okay, sure.” Rin gets up from their table, completely having forgotten to order anything, and walks out onto the streets of Karchah again with Makoto by his side.

He shivers, wishing he’d brought his suit jacket with him. Even with the sun rising, it’s starting to turn colder, and the air is crisp. But soon it’ll be winter; and this time, there’s definitely one more person coming with him on vacation.

**Author's Note:**

> Please give constructive criticism it is very useful to me and I love hearing from people that read my things!
> 
> Also bonus material: Nitori's province keeps dealing with alternative energy because it is a long-endurance form of energy production, similar to his swimming style; it's not very powerful at first but it just keeps going for a longer time than other styles!  
> The cities in Samezuka are indirectly named after the scientific name for the shark family, and the subfamily of requiem sharks because requiem sharks are my favorites.  
> The science officer Kou is pestering is Rei, and he's actually part of a military project that I'm not going to expand on but is codenamed Project Butterfly.  
> There is an Easter Egg for anybody that's talked to me for extended periods on Skype


End file.
